FEMA: Emergency Management Theater
October 29th, 2007
We all know what a great job FEMA did during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, so naturally Deputy Administrator Harvey E. Johnson didn’t want to ruin FEMA’s pristine reputation in it’s response to this years California Wildfires.
So when it came time for a press conference to talk about FEMA’s contribution to the emergency efforts in California, Harvey continued FEMA’s stellar reputation for competent decision making. Instead of inviting actual members of the press, who might ask questions that are over critical of FEMA, he decided to dress up members of his staff as reporters and put on a little press conference skit.
During the “press conference”, which was broadcast live on Fox News, Johnson’s staff asked him softball questions which made FEMA look like they were doing a “heckuva job.” In addition, Johnson placed the credit for the extraordinary emergency response to the California Fires in FEMA’s hands saying, “I am very happy with FEMA’s response so far, if you look at where FEMA’s come over the last couple of years…this is a FEMA and federal government who is leaning forward, not waiting to act. ” Great job Harvey.
Unfortunately, it looks like FEMA has not come very far since Katrina. They are staging press conferences, and taking the credit for California’s excellent emergency response infrastructure, that is in place to deal with these annual fires, as well as the relatively frequent earthquakes.
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